The Offer
- American Express have added Etihad as a transfer partner and they are also offering a 30% transfer bonus when you Receive a 30% transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Etihad Guest Miles. The standard rate is 1:1, so this means it would be 1:1.3. So if you transfer 1,000 Membership Rewards you’d receive 1,300 Etihad Guest Miles.
The Fine Print
- Valid until June 15th, 2016
Our Verdict
You can book flights with Etihad [award search here] or one of their partner airlines [award charts here]. Because this is a new partnership, they haven’t offered a transfer bonus to Etihad before, but you can view a list of all the transfer bonuses American Express have offered here. You can also transfer SPG and Citi ThankYou points to Etihad, although these obviously don’t come with the 30% transfer bonus. Keep in mind that Etihad miles expire 2 years after they are earned (slightly longer if you have status).
Here are some good uses of Etihad miles:
- American Airlines (no fuel surcharges and use the old AA award chart)
- Brussels Airlines (no fuel surcharges):
- JFK-Brussels: 21,972 miles in coach, 36,620 in business
- Etihad Apartments
- JFK-AUH is 117,000 miles
Let me know some other good uses of Etihad miles in the comments below. American Express are also offering a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic.
Hat tip to DansDeals
if you’re considering this transfer to book partner flights with Etihad miles, please read the online horror stories first. the success rate is extremely low.
from personal experience i can say that speaking to Etihad agents one feels like he’s calling a mental institution. they are helpless.
woohoo! now i can book the residence with only 1.6 million points instead of 2.1